So it's all kicked off here over a fence

[SleepFreeZone]

I did start a thread about three weeks ago re. my neighbour at the back lifting her fence panels and helping herself to our garden. Trimming back our trees and shouting and screaming at us while standing in our garden.

We decided we were going to erect a fence in our garden, inside of her open trellis fence as we wanted privacy and to obviously prevent her accessing our land. The fence is half up, contractor gone home for the day, and she has appeared on the doorstep shouting and bawling. She is claiming the fence is on her land and she has the legal right to take it down. We looked at the deeds before the fence was erected and could see that her fence was off the boundary line into our garden. So actually should be about 3 inches more into her garden, so she is clearly not right and DP is going to have to go round there later with the deeds. BUT it has made me 🙄 that this could easily spiral into solicitors and court cases and I'm very keen to not go down that road. I have s feeling she is going to get someone to remove the fence and thus cause us to have to sue her. Whereas I feel calmer if she instructs solicitors to get us to remove the fence as we can then represent ourselves in court and hopefully avoid thousands of pounds of costs.

Grrr I hate this shit and I see it all the time on TV and think these people are idiots.

To be honest I think a court case may actually be for the best, as if you sell in future you probably don't want the hassle of an unresolved boundary dispute.

Her argument that she wants to "own" both sides of her fence is a weird one. The way it works in my street (which I though pretty common for adjoining properties) is that the deeds specify what border we are responsible for (in our case the right hand fence when looking out our back door) and the next door neighbour has responsibility for maintaining the other one.

They advised us to not communicate with them again so we are just going to wait for the solicitor's letter basically.

I honestly can't see it ever being resolved though. I have a feeling we'll end up appearing on that TV program.

We know it's likely to go a legal route now as her husband pretty much said that to the policeman.

You might find that once a solicitor actually looks at the deeds and looks up at them frothing they ask them to leave the office sharpish. Why would they take on a case that is so obviously going to be thrown out?

Woah missed a couple of updates there! Her husband is also batshit... Great...

We can sort of see the line where the old fence ran (there are a few old brackets in the ground) and are fencer has followed that line as best he could working around big tree roots.

Which you will keep reiterating if it ever got to court.

Oh god what a nightmare for you
She sounds totally unhinged.
I hope that any solicitor she approaches laughs her out of tgeir office.
Please do keep us informed.

We are going to have to periodically check the fence as I really believe if she can't go the legal route she will try other means. I know she caused lots of problems with the previous owner of the house but because he was rarely in the property she obviously got used to having free rein at the bottom of the garden. He wouldn't have known now but she was lifting panels and coming in because he was never at home

I think with newer houses the boundaries are pretty clean cut, sadly with older properties it's not the case so often a surveyor has to comes out and try and plot the boundary as best they can. I assume that what will happen next.

She's also compromised the end two posts by yanking the panel out before the concrete had dried so we may have to have them reconcreted in and she shall be getting the bill.

I thought my last neighbours were bad, but yours certainly outrank mine.

Fair dos she sounds delightful! You're either going to have to take absolutely no bullshit - for a start I'd be leaving your trees alone - or move

Firstly, put up a CCTV camera. You will need it. She will damage your fence. That's a given.

Secondly, on another thread a couple of days ago posters were saying that solicitors hate boundary disputes. This is good for you as hopefully it means as others have said that she will be laughed out of her solicitors office.

Thirdly, she is batshit. Do not engage with her at all. Ignore all attempts for her to goad you into responding. If she damages the fence call the police but do not approach her. You will have evidence on video if you get CCTV (really, really recommend you do!)

Madness. Some people are just bonkers.

We can move now, we wanted to in the next few years but she's now stuck with us as no one will now buy this house with this going on!! I sort of said as much yesterday, congratulated her on devaluing both our houses and ensuring that she was now stuck with us as neighbours for a very long time 🙄

This sounds just awful. Further down the line, it might be an idea to consider a more robust barrier that she can't move or even attempt to tear down. So rather than panels, overboard instead or metal railings behind a wooden fence plus anti climb paint.

In fact could you put anti climb paint on the back of your fence just now?

People like that need impenetrable barriers.

*can't

Brick wall.

She's a nutter.

put up cctv stickers on her side of your fence and mount a camera that detects motion.

then you'll have proof of her damaging your fence and you can threaten criminal damage.

CCTV sounds fun but I don't think it will work in this case. Where the fence is the camera would have to be pretty much trained on her garden as if it was near our house it wouldn't show anything due to the length of the garden and the trees/shrubs etc.

Us the stuff she's loping off overhanging her garden? Or is she pruning your bushes on your side of the boundary.

I'd be planting some prickly bushes up there. Or nettles.

Something like this: BERBERIS GAGNEPAINII

I bought a fabulous wifi CCTV camera last week on Amazon. It's motion activated or runs all the time, infrared and less than £60. Also runs from your phone, so you can zoom, rotate etc.

Put it in an upstairs room, alined along the fence so that you are not overlooking her, the mad cow. You can also get tiny cameras that fit invisibly into buttons, lapels etc.

Also plant some pyrocanthus along the fence.

Good luck OP

So two police cars and presumably more than two officers had to waste their evening placating two grown women who were screaming at one another over a fucking fence panel?

It's a civil matter, what an absolute waste of precious resources. Who on earth has so little restrain that they would scream at another person?

Ah, just seen your post. How about a bird box camera, or cctv in a bird box. You will at least see the fence being interfered with?

Christ she's crazy!

Why on earth has she got that much of a bee in her bonnet about wanting to see her neighbours. Over one measly alleged foot of garden

Hope the cow gets a stern telling off in court but something tells me unless she's inprisoned she will continue to breech the peace.

Wish you all the luck though

The police was honestly the absolute last resort, she was causing criminal damage to our property. It was a 101 call. The police actually said they get 999ed out to the same families time and again over Facebook posts whereby people like us angst over whether to call them and we're the people who should be calling them. So they didn't make us feel like we were wasting their time.

Why did you agree the place the fence further into your property? You are only giving a bully what they want